Police said that the flag appeared to be an amateurish representation of ISIS, thereby ruling out the possibility of terrorist threat to the state security

Police said that the flag appeared to be an amateurish representation of ISIS, thereby ruling out the possibility of terrorist threat to the state security

Guwahati: Assam police questioned six Bharatiya Janata Party members over the recovery of a purported ISIS flag in Assam's Nalbari district.

"Join in ISIS" – a message written on a purported black ISIS flag was found pinned to a tree and was spotted on May 3 at the Koihati village, which falls under Belsor police station.

Police said it appeared to be a ‘publicity attempt’ by ‘mischief mongers’ that failed to create any sensation in the area. The questionable flag was spotted by some passerby. The person clicked a picture and subsequently informed the police. Thereafter, the authorities took the flag down.

On Monday night, police summoned six persons on the basis of on-the-ground information related to incident. They were later allowed to go.

The members have been identified as Tapan Barman (from Kaihati), Dwipjyoti Thakuria (Piplibari), Sorojjyoti Baishya (Patkata), Pulak Barman (from Belsor), Mojamil Ali (from Chamata) and Moon Ali (from Baruakur). Tapan Barman was a former Congress councillor, but later shifted allegiance to the BJP.

“We were not aware of the political affiliation of these persons. They were called on basis of earlier records and few are supposedly leading citizens of the area. No one has been detained or arrested over the matter, though we have gathered sufficient leads into the case,” said Shiladitya Chetia, Superintendent of Police, Nalbari district.

Police further said that the flag appeared to be an amateurish representation of ISIS, thereby ruling out the possibility of terrorist threat to the state security.

“If you look at the flag, the alphabets written in Arabic are clumsy. Had there been any real involvement, they would have focused on attention to detail. We believe this was just a quick publicity stunt,” said Chetia.

Meanwhile, Nalbari district Congress unit demanded a thorough probe into the matter and has denied any involvement of the party in the incident.

“Congress can never be involved in such antics. It is a doing of the BJP with the motive of rehabilitating Hindus from Bangladesh in Assam by introducing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016,” said Diganta Barman, Spokesperson, Nalbari district Congress.

ULFA’s self-styled commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah alleged that it is a political gambit of the Congress and BJP. Six such purported ISIS flags were recovered in Goalpara district on May 2.